Memory complaints are a key diagnostic criterion for dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment. Rating scales can be used to capture information about individuals’ memory problems from informants such as family members. However, problems with scale reliability suggest that individual differences influence the ratings informants provide. This project tested whether informants’ neuroticism was associated with their ratings of an older adult’s memory. In an online study, 293 volunteers completed a Five Factor personality questionnaire and used two memory questionnaires to provide ratings of memory problems in an older individual they knew well. Rater neuroticism correlated positively with estimates of memory problems: more neurotic informants provided higher estimates of memory difficulties in the person they were rating. A second study replicated this finding with 786 volunteers and another widely used memory measure, the AD8. In both studies, exploratory analyses suggested the effect size was large enough to impact on clinical practice.

Music and memory in advertising: music as a device of implicit learning and recallAlexomanolaki, M., Loveday, C. and Kennett, C. 2006. Music and memory in advertising: music as a device of implicit learning and recall. in: Baroni, M., Addessi, A.R., Caterina, R. and Costa, M. (ed.) 9th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, August 22-26 2006: Proceedings Bologna, Italy ICMPC-ESCOM. pp. 1190-1198

Doing educational research on the InternetJoinson, A.N. and Buchanan, T. 2001. Doing educational research on the Internet. in: Wolfe, C.R. (ed.) Learning and teaching on the World Wide Web San Diego, CA Academic Press. pp. 221-242